Repeat them again and again to your children.

Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road,

when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

~Deuteronomy 6:7 NLT

I listened to the stories for hours.

I don’t know whether I was an abnormal kid or not, but I loved to sit with my grandparents and listen to them tell stories. My granddaddy’s favorite was how he had to quit school when he was in the sixth grade. His father had died from cancer, and someone had to run the family farm. As the oldest boy still living at home, the job fell to him.

My grandmother kept the family connections straight for me. She reminded me of which kids went with which parents, how so-and-so was connected to the family, and what their current situation in life was. Since she was the family matriarch, relatives called her to catch her up on the family news.

But things have changed. All my grandparents have passed on. My daddy and momma didn’t know or share as many of the family stories, so I had no one to ask once my grandparents died. Then my father died and my mother began to have memory issues. She can no longer keep the details straight.

Sharing the stories has now fallen to me, and it makes me feel old, even though I’m only sixty. The trouble is that no one asks to hear the stories. My children are young adults, but only interested in the busyness of their own lives. My brothers are nine and ten years younger than I am, and even they rarely ask to hear the family stories. Many of the family stories, my siblings and children don’t even know. And my grandchildren don’t even know there are stories.

Sharing the stories has now fallen to me… The trouble is that no one asks to hear the stories.

~Martin Wiles

As time passes, my family stories seem to fade from everyone’s memory. God didn’t want that to happen with another important family story. The one that told of the commands He had given His followers. He wanted parents and grandparents to repeat these guidelines…commands…to their children and grandchildren. Otherwise, they would forget, and forgetting would impact their culture and society.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

~2 Peter 3:18b NKJV

God hasn’t changed His guidelines. Neither has He changed His expectations of us to share them with my family, friends, and acquaintances. When we do, the world becomes a better place because God’s principles lead to clean living and a pure society—at all levels. People will love more, show more kindness, and treat others with respect. But if we quit telling the story, the opposite will happen.

Make time to share God’s story with others—especially your family—and make the world a better place.

Make time to share God’s story with others—especially your family—and make the world a better place. @linesfromgod #VineWords #Whostellingwhom Click To Tweet

Heavenly Father, thank You for entrusting me to tell the stories of my family. Most of all, thank You that the greatest story I can share with my family is the salvation message found exclusively in Jesus Christ my Lord. Help me to tell of Him often. Amen.

Copyright 2020: Who’s Telling Whom?: Author Martin Wiles: All Rights Reserved

Meet Our Contributor 

MARTIN WILES

Martin Wiles is an author, English teacher, and freelance editor who resides in Greenwood, South Carolina. He is the founder and editor of Love Lines from God. Wiles is the Managing Editor for Christian Devotions, the Senior Editor for Inspire a Fire, and a Proof Editor for Courier Publishing. He has also served as Web Content Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

Wiles has authored A Whisper in the Wood: Quiet Escapes in a Noisy World (Ambassador International), Grits & Grace & God and Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church (Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas), Morning By Morning, Morning Serenity, and Grace Greater Than Sin (America Star Books) and is a contributing author in Penned from the Heart (Son-Rise Publications), Rise (Chaplain Publishing), and Love Knots: Stories of Faith, Family, and Friendships (VineWords Publishing).

He has served as Regional Correspondent and Sunday school lesson writer for the Baptist Courier and has also written for Lifeway’s Bible Studies for Life curriculum.

He has also been published in Christian Living in the Mature Years, Mature Living, Open Windows, Proclaim, The Secret Place, The Word in Season, Upper Room, Light from the Word, Reach Out Columbia, Mustard Seed Ministries, Journey Christian Newspaper, Common Ground Herald, The Quiet Hour, Power for Living, Halo Magazine, Joyful Living Magazine, Christian Broadcasting Network, Sharing, Today’s Christian Living, These Days, Plum Tree Tavern, Eskimo Pie, The Scarlet Leaf Review, Creation Illustrated, LIVE, Purpose Magazine, Stand Firm, The Banner, Relevant, and Lutheran Digest.

He is a regular contributor to Christian Devotions, PCC Daily Devotions, Theology Mix, Inspire a Fire, The Write Conversation, and Vine Words and is a regular writer for the Dorchester County Eagle Record, the Orangeburg County Times and Democrat, and the Greenwood County Index Journal.

Wiles’ next book, Don’t Just Live…Really Live is under contract with Ambassador International.

CONNECT WITH MARTIN WILES AT:

Managing Editor, Christian Devotions

Senior Editor, Inspire a Fire

Proof Editor, Courier Publishing

Author, A Whisper in the Woods, Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church and Grits, Grace, and God.

On The Web: Love Lines From God

BOOK LINKS:

Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church https://www.amazon.com/Grits-Gumbo-Going-Church-Martin/dp/1798510375

Grits & Grace and God https://www.amazon.com/Grits-Grace-God-Heaven-Southern/dp/1645261379

A Whisper in the Woods: Quiet Escapes in a Noisy World https://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Woods-Quiet-Escapes-Noisy/dp/1620208652